Tuesday, June 26, 2007

THE RETURN OF THE GREAT SUMMER WHEAT-OFF

Funny how a different year can make the same exact beer taste better or worse. Like I forgot last year that I had stacked up a bunch of summer/wheat beers up against each other & rated accordingly; my hosannas last week for the workingman’s beer PYRAMID HEFEWEIZEN (8/10!) don’t jibe with last year’s 6.5/10. Likewise, last Saturday I ordered up a tall glass of ANCHOR SUMMER WHEAT over dinner, on a nice warm evening here in town, but this time I’m only dipping half a point down from the 2006 score, giving this one a 6/10. Anchor Summer Wheat is a very decent, very drinkable beer, but boring as all get-out. It needs more oomph, something tart or some intensity to the wheat malts used in this one. I know it’s for “sessioning” but that’s not really how I drink, and it’s only fair to expect it to be exciting enough to stand up to a single serving. That said, you could do far worse – Anchor’s products nearly always satisfy on some level and this one’s no different.

Let’s save the kudos for an outstanding wheat ale from GOOSE ISLAND, a fantastic pale wheat called 312 URBAN WHEAT ALE. These fellas hail from “the Motor City”, that’s right, Chicago, “the big easy”. You can’t get their beers in California so you gotta trade for them, so kudos to Wortwurst for sending me this one. It’s the yeasty-est concoction I’ve had in some time, a truly delicious wheat beer with flavors that dart all over the tongue. Bananas, lemon, and that intense yeast flavor that can be so great when formulated correctly. I loved it. I’d drink it anytime, over and over, at your house, at my house, anywhere. 9/10! Get one!

Maybe I gotta try the 312 again cuz I was very underwhelmed by it the first time around. To be completley blunt...well, it bored me (especially after trying Victory's contribution to the Summer Wheat games with Whirlwind and Sunrise.)